Papa Lāhiki Kū (2012-2013)

Scott Abrigo
Aloha, my name is Scott Alika Abrigo.  I reside in Malu’ohai, a homestead in Kapolei on the island of O’ahu, with my wife, Lehua, and three keiki, a son, Kawena (10) and daughters, Liko (8) and Pohai (1).

Aku mihi aroha ki a koutou – Warm greetings to you all.

I am Kara Edwards and I was born and raised in remote Awarua (Haast) on the South West Coast of New Zealand.  I am an only child and for the first 5 years of my life, I was raised by my grandparents.  I come from a large and close extended family and we have lived in the same area for the past 7 generations.

I have a strong affiliation to and involvement with my hapū, Kāti Māhaki and my iwi Ngāi Tahu and my family contiues to have an intergenerational involvement in iwi affairs.  I have been on the Executive Committee of my hapū for the past 20 years and am the current Deputy Chairman as well as the chairman of our committee pounamu and I am a director in our Glacier guiding company.

I have a particular interest in iwi environmental matters and have a career in this field that spans 20 years starting with regional authorities, iwi authority and now the government.  I am currenlty employed in a senior managment role with the Department of Conseration as a ‘Strategic iwi relationship Manager’.

I am the proud mother of two beautiful children, Kahurangi (17) who is in his last year at a Catholic Māori boarding school and is about to head off to Canada for his gap year and daughter Nikki-Leigh (21) who is about to start her career working for our people also in an environmental role.

I am most passionate about my people and our place in the world and feel incredibly grateful and excited to be doing the work that I do and living on the West Coast amongst my people.

I am ecstatic  about this amazing opportunity and looking very much forward to meeting you all and experiencing Stanford.

Malia Ellis
My name is Melanie Malia Kauila Ellis.  My family line if from Kalapana on the Island of Hawai’i.  I was born on O’ahu, attended Kamehameha Kapalama for primary school and then moved with my ‘ohana to Benicia, California, located in the East Bay of San Francisco.

After graduating from Benicia High, I returned to Hawai’i to attendWindward Community College and UH Manoa where I received a B.A. in Elementary and Early Childhood Education.  I currently work at our Kamehameha Preschool in Waimanalo in the P3 program.

I practice La’au Lapa’au, traditional Hawaiian Lomi and the Art of Lua with Pa Ku’i A Holo.  I am an avid water baby who loves to paddle surf, dive and gather mea ‘ono from the ocean to feed my family and myself.  I am proud to be Kanaka Maoli and to practice the things my Kupuna have taught me.

I am grateful for their spiritual presence and guidance in my life and continue to nohona Hawai’i to honor them and my ‘ohana.

I am truly blessed and honored to be a part of the First Nations’ Futures Program and look forward to collaborating with other Native Hawaiian leaders in the year to come.

Mahalo Ke Akua me na Kupuna.

Ko Taranaki te Maunga

Ko Tokomaru te Waka

Ko Mohakatino te Awa

Ko Ngāti Tama te Iwi

Ko Pukearuhe te Marae

Ko Rangiwhakahotu White te tupuna

Ko Rachael Harris ahau.

My name is Rachael Harris, and I live in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Born and raised in our capital city, Wellington, I am currently studying at the University of Canterbury, in the final year of my Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Māori and Indigenous Studies and minoring in Geography.  Locally, I volunteer for the Canterbury Community Law Centre, a volunteer organisation staffed by local lawyers, students and graduates that provides free legal advice and representation for those in need.

My studies have led me to develop a particular passion for the interrelationships between the law, environment interests, and the interests of Indigenous Peoples.  Next year, I intend to undertake a Masters of Laws at Canterbury, in order to research and develop a management plan between local iwi and regional councils relating to the co-guardianship of water.  Water management and Māori interests are highly relevant at this time, as the battle over the sale of State Owned Assets rages across the New Zealand political spectrum, and I am very interested in the varying approaches taken to water management across the world, particularly with regard to Indigenous interests.

The relevance of building a sustainable tribal economy was driven home to me earlier this year upon the announcement that my own iwi, Ngāti Tama, had lost the majority of its Waitangi Treaty Settlement.  Living in the Ngāi Tahu rohe, the bankruptcy of my iwi is a stark contrast to the success of Ngāi Tahu ventures that I see every day.  Although we have lost our putea, this does not mean we are impoverished.  We can rebuild, it will take time and commitment, but most of all knowhow.  This begins with knowledge, and applying that to the problems our iwi and our people face.  I wish to be part of that.  I am honoured to be a part of the First Nations’ Futures Programme, and greatly look forward to using the knowledge gained from the experience to help my community.

Although my life has taken me to many countries and beloved places, I know that Hawaii is where I belong, and serving my community is what I want to do.  I have been fortunate for the last three years to be able to use my education and passion for serving the Native Hawaiian community as a Research Assistant at Kamehameha Schools.  Whether it’s research, evaluation, or strategic planning, I was able to work every day for the special mission KS takes on.  Outside of the office, I’ve also spent the last three years working with other Hau’ula community members on inspiring projects and partnerships from resource stewardship to ocean education, from emergency preparedness to heiau restoration.  I’ve recently decided to take the plunge and dive right into this community work to foster positive change at home through a variety of small grants.  I will contribute to the management and creation of community programs for Hau’ula and other Ko’olau Loa communities and look forward to how my involvement with FNFP will shape and guide my efforts at home.

I first heard of FNFP and even participated in the fellows’ first visit to Stanford when I finished my graduate degree, and now things have come full circle and I’m finally able to participate as a fellow.  I am excited and grateful for this opportunity and hope to use this experience to further my work at home and to develop as a servant leader of whom my community will be proud.

I graduated from Fort Lewis College (’08) with a B.A. in international business.  While attending FLC, I was a member of the Native American Honor Society and served as president of the American Indian Business Leaders – FLC chapter.  I was also fortunate enough to spend a semester studying abroad in the wonderful city of Regensburg, in Bavaria, Germany.

While earning my degree at FLC, I completed two internships with Sealaska, working for the Office of Diversity Solutions.  I joined Sealaska in summer 2008 as a business development analyst working for the office of the executive vice president, where my first task was to help draft Sealaska’s “Southeast Alaska Economic Development Strategy.” I currently serve as mariculture program manager for Haa Aani, LLC – Sealaska’s newest subsidiary, dedicated to improving the economic conditions in Southeast Alaska communities through innovation, sustainability and collaboration.  I feel truly blessed to be working for Sealaska in my current capacity as my heart is and will always be in rural Southeast Alaska.  To be able to provide hope and opportunities for our tribal member shareholders living in our traditional communities is literally a dream come true.

As mariculture program manager, I’m currently spearheading an initiative to facilitate the creation of a viable oyster farming industry for our Southeast villages, so as to provide sustainable, year-round jobs that are lifestyle compatible.  I also serve as a board member for the Alaska Shellfish Growers Association.

In my spare time, I’m usually hunting deer, subsistence fishing, or participating in some other traditional food gathering expedition.

It’s an honor to be able to participate in the FNFP, and I look forward to meeting and learning from the other fellows.

Donna has also spent time in the public sector as a policy Director at Te Puni Kokiri responsible for research, international issues and the monitoring of public sector agencies in line with the Māori Development Act.

She returned home to Dunedin in 2007 to be closer to her whanau and is currently executive director of Arai Te Uru Whare Hauora a community based provider of health and social services.  She is a miniterial appointment to the Univsersity of Otago Council and the New Zealand Council of Legal Education.  A Trustee of the Southern PHO she is eager for changes in primary health that effect measurable outcomes for Māori and other peoples.

Donna is also a member of the Family Services National Advisory Council, an elected membr of the Ministry of Health NGO Working Group and an NGO representative on the National Taskforce for Family Violence.

Her big passion is whanau and the quality of outcomes that the receive from their engagement with education and other statutory agencies.  Elected Chairperson for Bathgate Primary she remains committed to ensuring community participation and local decision-making.  Donna has recently been appointed a member of the National Māori Leadership group for Cancer.

In September 2010, the call from ku’u one hānau resounded through my world.  On one ordinary evening as my friends and I drove from Tucson to El Paso for a cycling event, my mother called to inform me that my beloved father had suddenly and unexpectedly passed.  I was on the very next flight home, and within days I knew the right decision was to return.  So, I packed up the life I had made for myself on the continent and returned home to heal and build a new life with my ‘ohana any my Hawai’i.

Although the transition was not always smooth, I slowly rebuilt a life here in Hawai’i that I love.  I worked to re-root myself in the Hawaiian culture I was raised in, which is what led us to found Nā Wāhine ‘Ōiwi.  Our group aims to provide a safe space for Hawaiian women to re-root themselves and connect within, with each other, in our communities, and with our culture and traditions.  Re-rooting myself in my culture is also what got me in a wa’a at Lōkahi Canoe Club where I was lucky enough to cross the Ka’iwi Channel in the 2011 Nā Wāhine O Ke Kai.

I currently work at Argosy University as an Adjunct Instructor in the Criminal Justice Undergraduate program.  I am honored and humbled by this opportunity to particpate in the First Nations’ Futures Program.

I graduated from Oregon State University’s College of Forestry in 2001 with a B.S. in natural resource management.  In 2006, I graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Studies with a M.S. in fisheries management.

During my undergrad, I interned with Sealaska in the Natural Resources Department and for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Alaska Region’s Natural Resource Department.  Between colleges I worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in the Division of Subsistence Management.  I currently serve as a marine mammal tagger for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, tagging subsistence harvested sea otters, walrus and polar bears.  I periodically sit as an advisor for the Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission, and conduct bio sampling and hunter harvest surveys for them.

As the renewable energy program manager for Haa Aani, LLC, I have been responsible for bringing the wood pellet heating industry to Alaska, and for making energy more affordable for Alaskans.  Many Alaskan communities have been paying upwards of $10 a gallon for fuel, and paying nearly $0.80 per kWh for electricity.  High energy  costs in our smaller rural communities have caused people to increasingly move to more urgan communities and give up their traditional lifestyles.  Affordable, renewable energy has repeatedly been highlighted as a top priority for Native Alaskan people.  Using a holistic approach I also work on issues of food security and couple energy projects with agriculture using waste heat.  As an economic developer I am constantly looking at ways to improve economic conditions in our communities.  Examples of this include adding solar power to fish processing plants, and findig new and innovative uses of existing infrastructure and using them on a year-round basis instead of just seasonally.

In my spare time I enjoy fishing, hunting and boating or building my home for my wife and three children.

It’s an honor to be able to participate in the FNFP, and I look forward to meeting and learning from the other fellows.

Paulette is currently the project leader – KMK Te Reo Strategy for the Culture and Identity team at Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and has been involved in the revitalisation of te reo among Ngāi Tahu whānui and the wider community for a number of years.

She is the mother of four bilingual boys, composes and performs waiata and also co-tutors kapa haka with her partner.

Jessica is particularly interested in enhancing the country’s tribal economies, as these have in the past been inhibited, and on a larger scale slowed national economic growth.  She intends to support positive change through holistic, dynamic and educated development initiatives to ensure sustainable indigenous growth.

She is humbled and incredibly grateful to be part of the First Nations’ Futures Programme.  Jessica is enthusiastic about this opportunity to share insights, experiences and knowledge with an inspiring group of FNFP fellows to construct alternative perspectives and methods which she looks forward to conveying and implementing within her community.